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National Commercial - 02/26/07 Grace Products featured in national In 2006, Grace Industries boosted its effort in gaining company awareness by receiving the opportunity to combine its advertising efforts in a nationwide commercial with Duracell, whose batteries are used solely for Grace’s products. Entitled “Fire”, the 30-second commercial’s peaceful firehouse setting dramatically shifts to a more harrowing one, portraying firemen racing to extinguish a wild blaze, while debris falls to the ground around the crew. The powerful images demonstrate the importance of emergency communication devices, like Grace’s Duracell-powered T-PASS 3III, an emergency signaling, transmitting, and ‘lack of motion’ device that alerts firefighters when the commander has determined it is critical to evacuate a building or when another firefighter is unconscious or in need of help. Press Release - 03/12/06 Grace at work on mine safety line Recent mining disasters in West Virginia and elsewhere have focused attention on the industry to curb miner fatalities and injuries. Federal and state regulators are hastening the pace by enacting new regulations which are encouraging and forcing mining companies to upgrade their safety technology. Tucked away in rural Delaware Township, Grace Industries is a longtime creator of safety equipment and has products ready to go for the mining industry, said Bob Campman, Grace's vice president of research and development. In 2003 Grace rolled out TPASS3 — which stands for Telemetry Personal Alert Safety System, third generation. Using multiple technologies, a motion sensor the size of a child's fist is clipped onto a worker's belt or other piece of clothing. A radio transceiver is embedded in the sensor which sends and receives electronic signals to a small personal computer that acts as a command center. By monitoring the computer a manager instantly knows how many workers are present in a situation. If a worker is injured and stops moving the sensor will flash lights, belt out an alarm and send a signal back to the computer of a downed man. If an employee needs help they can activate the alarm at any time. Likewise, the manager can send an alarm signal to evacuate workers from a dangerous area. "It gives you complete accountability", Campman said. "It lets you know whose there and their safety status at all times. Crafting technology to meet the needs of underground miners hasn't been easy. Working far beneath the earth's surface, miners toil in cramped tunnels and shafts which severely limits the traveling distance of standard radio waves. Grace Industries uses spread spectrum radio technology whereby multiple radio wave frequencies are transmitted. This expands the distance radio waves travel allowing signals to be better sent and received in a mine environment", Campman said. Preliminary tests using TPASS3 were recently conducted n a mine outside of Pittsburgh and were overseen by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, he said. NIOSH is a federal agency responsible for educating and researching ways to prevent work-related injures. One product in the works at Grace Industries aims to pinpoint the location of a mine collapse and locate the miners. Another item could allow miners to send and receive text messages from the surface. No products on the market now has those capabilities. Safety companies must have their products approved by NIOSH before they can be sold to the mining industry. Known for taking a year or longer to certify equipment, NIOSH has said new safety devices for mines will be given fast-track approval if the products pan out. "They basically said any company who brings the technology to the forefront will get the priority in getting certified", Campman said.
Bob Campman, vice president of research and development for Grace Industries Inc., holds the company’s TPASS3 safety equipment. Now used by fire departments throughout the country, the Delaware Township company is hoping to use this and other products for the mining industry. Press Release - 02/18/06 Company works on improving safety in mines Campman's testimony centered around new technology being developed by Grace to improve emergency life safety communications in underground mines. Grace Industries of Fredonia, Mercer County, is a leading manufacturer of two-way signaling life-safety systems used heavily in the fire/rescue service and industry. The hearing focused on two major areas: the issue of providing emergency escape oxygen systems and the improvement of locating and communicating with miners who become trapped during a collapse, fire or other emergency situation. Campman explained his company's system is wireless and can provide two-way emergency signaling to more than 3,000 personnel, and can be used by miners and rescue teams alike. "We are nearing the production phase of a component that will allow us to pinpoint the location of a collapse using the radio telemetry built into our system," he said.
Press Release - 02/15/06
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